Of Heroes And Villains
by Ellana-san
Summary: He is not naïve enough to think fairy tales always have happy endings, he has lived through enough of those tales to know happy endings are rare and have to be fought for. He has also lived long enough to know villains never find theirs. He has been an idiot to think he would be the exception to confirm the rule.


_So I was taking drabble requests on tumblr last night and someone prompted the writer's choice so…I chose Captain Swan because I've been willing to try my hand at writing them for a while. Not sure it turned out good, probably turned out veeery cliché. Well…_

13 – "Kiss me."

 ** _Of Heroes And Villains_**

It isn't supposed to end up like this.

He is not naïve enough to think fairy tales always have happy endings, he has lived through enough of those tales to know happy endings are rare and have to be fought for. He has also lived long enough to know villains never find theirs. He has been an idiot to think he would be the exception to confirm the rule.

But it isn't supposed to end up like this. _This_ feels like a cruel twist of fate, like an ironical reversal of what should have been : the Savior clad in dark feathers cast in the role of the villain and the pirate playing at being a hero with a broken sword now restored.

Their names gleamed in the sunlight on the blade, united in this like they were in everything else, like a cruel twist of fate.

Her face is calm, almost serene, relieved perhaps.

"You have to do this." she reminds him.

He knows he has to do it but he wishes he hadn't. He wishes he had let David pulled that sword from that rock, he wishes it had been the Queen or Gold or even Snow White. Anyone but him. And yet there is no one else but him for this task. It _has_ to be him.

Excalibur now reformed, the darkness has to be vanquished before it leaves its tether and destroy everything they hold dear. Even now, as he hesitates, he can see the pain on her face as she struggles to keep it inside her as it tries to break free. How much longer can she contain it?

"I can't." he whispers at last.

The sword is heavy in his only remaining hand, inadequate. The woods are silent around them, no chirping of birds, no sounds at all indicating life. He knows where they are. This is the place he has asked her to think about a future for them after the Ice Queen had arrived in town. She's the one who has come to him this time, she's the one who has puffed them here in a cloud of dark smoke… There is still light inside of her, he believes that with all his heart. The fact that she would sacrifice herself to save the town _tells him_ that. And he can't resolve himself to destroy the Dark One when there is still a chance to save Emma.

"You have to, Killian." she repeats. "Save me."

"That won't save you." he scoffs. "That will kill you."

Excalibur is humming in his hand, ready to destroy the darkness.

"Death is a kind of salvation is some cases." she counters. "The darkness is who I am now, it is a part of me. Destroying it means destroying me. Failing to do both means sentencing to death everyone we love." She brushes her hand against his cheek and he shivers at the contact. "You will do it, I know. You will find the strength. You are a hero now."

"And you are a villain." he breathes out, his voice breaking in places. "How did that happen?"

"Fate has a funny way to come around." she shrugs. "Kiss me."

He does with all the hope he has left, with all his belief that she is his true love and that a kiss can magically make everything better. He gives himself whole in that kiss, holds nothing back and yet when he draws back, she is still the same. His dark swan.

There is a sad smile on her lips when he leans in to kiss her again, as she knows already what he is planning. And she probably does. She is the Dark One after all and there is no tricking Dark Ones. _Kiss_ is only two letters away from _kill_. He tastes his own tears in that kiss but he swings the blade anyway, his eyes closed and the flat of his hook tenderly pressing against her nape. She gasps against his lips and he keeps his eyes shut, unable to watch. He sees anyway. There is a cloud of darkness and then a blinding light. Then she goes limp in his arms.

"No.." he whispers, lying her down on the forest floor, tossing Excalibur beside him. "No, no, no… Swan…"

Her Dark One's outfit is gone. She is wearing the same jeans and sweater she had been when she had first taken in the darkness. Her hair is loose and he brushes it away from her face.

"Emma…" he begs. But there is no pulse, no life left… "Emma…" He kisses her forehead through his tears, her cheeks and then her mouth and he remains there bowed over the body of the woman he loves, for the second time, certain that, this time, he won't come back from it. "I love you." he finally confesses those words he has never had a chance to say while she could still hear them. He couldn't love the Dark One, not like he loved _her_. "I love you." he mouths against her lips.

Light trickles from between the trees but he doesn't notice at first, does not care because without her his life is dark again and there is no room for anything else but grief and pain. It isn't until he is bathed in it that he realizes the light isn't natural, that it is converging toward them, toward _her_. Her body sucks it in and he holds his breath, not daring to hope…

Then she gasps, her eyes opening wide and the light escapes her body in a shockwave that feels like a punch in the guts. He doesn't mind though, doesn't _care_. He pulls her into him and _clings_ to her, burying his nose in her hair and breathing her in. _Alive_ , _alive_ , _alive_ , his heart sings.

"How…" he stutters because she had been _dead_. He is sure of that.

"True love kiss." she answers in a shaking voice, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding on just as tightly as he is. "Once the darkness was gone… True love kiss brought my light magic back."

He closes his eyes and leans heavily against her, relief and exhaustion from the past few weeks taking their toll.

"I love you." he says, because it is important she hears it now that she can, now that she is herself again.

"I love you." she answers and there is no hesitation in her voice, no room for doubt or mistrust or fear.

Happy endings have to be fought for, he muses. His was right here, in his arms, and he would gladly die fighting for it.


End file.
